The key to learning to play the game of pool is technique. Technique includes the player's stance, the player's grip on the cue, the player's stroke and the bridge formed by the player's hand. The most important of these is the stance. If a player develops a proper stance then that player is able to learn how to play pool effectively in a fraction of the time it would take otherwise. Once a player is in a proper stance, his or her body must be perfectly still with only the cue arm in motion. This stance is the only one that will give the player the motionless consistency that is required to be a good pool player. Without proper stance, a player will acquire habits that are so bad that it will be difficult for that player to improve no matter how much he or she practices.
Training devices for sports requiring a player to use a bat or club are well-known. Thus, to train a golfer to have a proper stance, and hence golf swing, golf stance alignment mats have been described and illustrated, for example, in Lundquist U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,738 issued Mar. 18, 1997, De Knight et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,082 issued Dec. 26, 1995, Todd U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,882 issued Jan. 7, 1997 and Lundquist U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,328 issued Feb. 20, 1996. Batting training devices for baseball, incorporating mats have been taught in Wiseman et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,004 issued Jul. 16, 1996 and Pierce U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,656 issued June 12, 1990.
For training of persons to play pool, U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,494 of Roa issued Oct. 17, 1978 describes and illustrates a mat to be placed on a pool table playing surface, on which are marked lines for guiding a player to properly position the cue in making a predetermined billiard shot.
Neither this device, however, nor any of the other devices described above, is of any assistance in teaching proper stance to a pool player.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device which will teach a pool player a proper stance for playing pool.